USWNT making best out of Olympic preparation despite coach, team in limbo

CHICAGO — No one is pretending this is the ideal preparation for next year’s Paris Olympics.

The U.S. women came into this month’s camp still feeling the sting from their World Cup disappointment and trying to identify how it all went so wrong. But they can’t go too far down that path because they’ll have a new coach before the end of the year and he or she will likely have their own thoughts.

On top of that, emotions are running high because the games against South Africa are sendoffs for two USWNT icons, Julie Ertz and Megan Rapinoe.

“Honestly? It’s really tough,” co-captain Lindsey Horan said after the USWNT beat South Africa 3-0 Thursday night. “I think (interim coach Twila Kilgore) is actually doing a really good job because it’s a tough role for her, as well. You want to still teach, still have the team learning and still move forward and put this program in the right way. We have an Olympics in one year’s time so we don’t want to lose time.

“But obviously we know that a new coach is coming in November and we have to be ready for that. It’s our job as players that every single one of us, we need to perform, we need to train well, we need to perform well in the games because that new coach, whoever it is, is watching.”

Had the USWNT done what they’ve always done at the World Cup — reach the semifinals, at least — this international window would look a lot different. Ertz and Rapinoe would still be retiring, and their teammates would still be trying to get them goals while alternating between laughter and tears.

But there wouldn’t be the uncertainty that hangs over the program right now. While Kilgore did call up a couple of new players, the USWNT can’t do much more than tread water in this camp and the one next month.

Will the new coach play a completely different style, using different personnel? Will the youth movement that started under previous coach Vlatko Andonovski accelerate and, if so, what will become of the veterans? Will players who’ve been mainstays in the starting lineup find themselves on the bench, if with the team at all?

No one knows the answers to any of these things.

“It’s obviously a one-of-a-kind camp,” USWNT veteran Crystal Dunn said. “A lot of moving pieces, a lot of emotions. But we’re trying to move forward.”

That means the best thing the USWNT can do — the only thing Kilgore and the U.S. players can do, really  — is try and repair the team’s confidence, which took an understandable dent after the World Cup.

Kilgore acknowledged as much, saying she played a similar lineup against South Africa as the USWNT did against Sweden in the round of 16 because that was the Americans’ best game at the World Cup and she wanted to keep the positive momentum going.

“The expectation within the group was to build off the Sweden match,” Kilgore said.

She also said she wasn’t going to rush Mia Fishel or 18-year-old Jaedyn Shaw, uncapped players who are expected to have a big impact in this next World Cup cycle.

Shaw did not play Thursday night and Fishel, 22, wasn’t even available, but Kilgore wanted them at this camp so they could get their bearings and see what it means to be a part of the USWNT at a time when there isn’t a lot of pressure.

“They’re learning what the culture is and the expectations within this program,” Kilgore said. “We’re in a learning phase. It doesn’t mean they can’t compete at the highest level because they do (with their clubs). But we really want to set a pathway for them to be able to make the most of their opportunities.

“We’re taking it slow because we want them to acclimate to the environment. To be able to spend time with legends like (Rapinoe and Ertz)."

Even if there isn’t much to be learned from the games this month or next, by the players or about the team in general, that doesn’t mean progress isn’t being made.

Though there were glimpses Thursday night of the issues that doomed the USWNT at the World Cup, the team also scored three goals against an opponent that made the knockout rounds. They were energetic and aggressive, and both Horan and Alex Morgan showed flashes of the skills that have made them so dominant.

Most telling, the U.S. women looked as if they’d found the joy they were missing in Australia and New Zealand.

Sure, that’s easier when the games don’t mean much and the ball is going in the back of the net. But it’s been a long time since the USWNT played with this much ease and lightness.

“It’s just about making sure the players felt prepared, felt comfortable, understood what to do, how to gameplan and knew that they had people on the sidelines who could help and support,” Kilgore said. “I know the team’s in a good place for when the next head coach comes in.”

In limbo is not a good place to be, especially with the Olympics looming. But the USWNT is going to be there for a while, so it has better to make the best of it.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.